Virtual or reality
by Shaltenn
Summary: Warning: Mostly OC-focused and very dark in the beginning. Kaiba is finished with his Virtual reality duel simulator and plans to use it, while one duelist is dragged into a fight against an organization that will have ramifications throughout the world.
1. Chapter 1

Virtual or Reality?

By Shaltenn

I couldn't help but rub my tired eyes. I'd spent the last couple weeks devoted to combing through countless lines of computer coding with my employer, looking for any abnormalities such as viruses, pranks, and other malicious programs that one of the developers might have snuck in. And we were only halfway through.

It was amazing really. Just the two of us had already gone through half the code to THE largest computer game ever designed. Entire teams of experts would have only made a third of the progress we made in that time. Of course a large proportion of the work had been done by the man next to me.

He was like a robot when it came to this project. He would be here well before I was in the mornings, and I always left before him in the evening. When I took a lunch break I would always have to get away from the screen, while he would eat at his terminal, continuously working.

Yes. Seto Kaiba was quite the workaholic. And the worst part was it was beginning to spread to myself. An extra minute early in the morning here. A few minutes later in the night there. Hell I am probably close to his schedule.

Tonight was the latest I had ever stayed at the company and it was starting to show. The only reason I was awake was the large quantities of coffee running through my system this very moment. I was just about to return to my work when a sound I had never heard before filled the room. The sound of Seto Kaiba snoring.

It was light and almost quiet to the point of not technically being a snore, but it was proof that Seto had fallen asleep. The robot had finally run down.

I was at a loss for what to do. Do I leave him there. I had no idea how he would react, and considering some of the quickly dealt punishments for minor offences he has given other employees in the past I wasn't sure waking him was a good idea. Then again that could not be comfortable sleeping like that.

I weighed the pros and cons for only a moment before reaching over to the sleeping figure. I shook his shoulder for a second. "Kaiba-Sama." After receiving no response I shook him once again. "Kaiba-Sama!" That did it.

"Wha..? Kenichi?" He said my name as he looked around the room to get his bearings. Putting his fingers up to his head and massaging his temple to try and alleviate some of the pain. "What time is it?"

I gave a quick look at my watch "3:00 a.m. sir." I replied.

He nodded for a second and then went back to typing at his terminal. "Good. Not too much time wasted." He said more to himself than me.

I could not believe that he still desired to go on. "Kaiba-Sama. Wouldn't it be better if you got some sleep?"

"I can't. I have put so much into this project and it is so close to being finished." He had so much conviction in his words and in his eyes that I almost let the matter drop.

Almost.

"But sir. If you do not get enough sleep you'll start making mistakes." The glare I received from the man at the mention of him making a mistake caused a shiver of fear to run up my spine. "I mean we've done an amazing job on our own. In fact we're pretty far ahead of schedule as it is. I'm sure you don't want a simple mistake brought on by exhaustion to ruin our current progress."

He continued to glare at me for a couple more seconds before bowing his head and letting out a deep sigh. " I guess you're right." He said as began to save his progress. I too began to save all files I had gone through and began to turn my terminal off. As I heard the mechanisms in the computer slow down a small thought went through my mind that had been bothering me lately.

"Kaiba-Sama. I know this might be a little bold, but I need to ask you a question about the project." I said, not turning to look at the man.

Silence filled the room for a few seconds and I began to worry that I might have crossed a line with the strict CEO beside me. I was relieved when the silence was broken with a simple "Go on." from him.

"This project is a rather large piece of work. Going over these files over the last few weeks has truly made me appreciate how large it is." I took a quick breath and looked at the man. "My question is why not have a larger team working on this last step? Why only one person to help you? And why me? I know at least three other people with better skills than I have."

Kaiba Seto leaned back in his chair for a moment to stare at the ceiling. I could almost see the gears in his his mind working on thinking up an appropriate answer to my question. Finally he seemed to settle on something. "How long have been working with this company?"

I was taken aback a bit, not expecting a question to be directed at me. "Well... quite a few years actually. I started off just two years before you took over sir."

"Exactly. You were also one of the few who did not show any protest to the idea of changing Kaiba Corp to a gaming company from a munitions company. In fact you were a supporter."

That was true. I had been extremely vocal in my support of the switch. In the two years I had been working for Gozaburo Kaiba I had begun to feel guilty for designing the programs used to make weapons. Every time I turned on the news and saw footage from a war zone where one or even both sides were using Kaiba Corp technology I couldn't help but feel like I had taken part in the deaths of those people. When Seto had made the announcement of the change I grabbed on and clung to that for a way to sooth my guilty conscience.

He then looked directly into my eyes. "Now add in the fact that I have had this project used against me at least twice in the past to put me out of commission, with multiple other betrayals against me besides that. Is it any wonder really that I don't want an entire team of people working on this? You're one of the few people I feel I can trust and have proven trustworthy for the longest of any other employee. I cannot risk another sabotage of this project so I chose the one trustworthy person skilled enough to help.

I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride at this. I had worked so hard for the company and it was an amazing feeling to realize that my efforts had earned me that much trust.

"Thank you sir. That means a lot to me."

"Oh don't be thanking me yet." My eyes widened a little in surprise. "This project is far from done. We've still got a few more weeks of this hell left." I couldn't help but feel nervous at the grin he had on his face. "I'm gonna head out now and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." He said as he got up and headed to the door.

"Yes sir." I was just about to follow also when he turned back towards me.

"Oh and Kenichi?" He said as he once again got another grin on his face. "When this project is over with and it becomes the success I'm pretty sure it is destined to be expect a promotion to be coming your way." He left the room after that leaving me with my jaw hanging open.

"Well that was unexpected." I said to the empty room. The bombshell Seto had dropped on me had adrenaline pumping through my veins. I was sorely tempted to turn on my computer and resume my work and would have done so if I wouldn't have felt like a hypocrite for doing it.

I got up, stretched and then grabbed my coat. As I headed out the door I had to say one more thing out loud. "I won't let you down Kaiba-Sama."

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_The next day in a small neighborhood in Domino city._

The cool spring breeze felt good against my face as I laid down on one of the grassy hills of the domino city park. I was so comfortable just laying on the grass in my simple blue jeans and t-shirt that I knew I was almost about to join the blissful land of sleep.

"Yo Mikey! Can you show us how to duel like you do!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned towards the source of the disturbance, and quickly put my glasses on. I couldn't help but groan as my eyes landed upon a group of three kids. "Not you guys." I said as I ran my fingers through my black hair, a nervous habit of mine.

"Oh come on. Don't be like that Mikey." Came the voice of the original speaker. It was the ten year old 'leader' of the group Vincent Burns. He was a young blonde American boy who had moved to Japan about five years ago with his parents. He was currently dressed in a pair of jeans and a white shirt that seemed to be a couple sizes to large. He was currently giving me a big grin that showed off the gap in his teeth where one of his front teeth had just fallen out.

"First off don't call me Mikey. My name is Mikhail. Second shouldn't you three be in school?" I asked in exasperation.

"Mikhail is way too stupid of a name. I like Mikey." Vincent said. He'd been calling me Mikey ever since he had met me. He had a lot of trouble with foreign names at first, especially with his limited Japanese at the time (though it didn't seem to matter that my name was of Russian origin.) He had pretty much given all his friends nicknames.

"And it is Sunday Mikhail-Oniisan. School is closed." This came from Maeharu 'May' Ayame. This little girl was also about 10 years old, and unlike Vincent was very respectful and polite. She had Black hair that was tied up in two pigtails that hung down to her shoulders. She was currently wearing a pair of overalls with a yellow and white striped shirt on.

"If you didn't sleep through most of the week like a bum you would know that." Came the voice of Maeharu "Nate" Naota, Ayame's older brother. He was thirteen years old and was usually found accompanying his sister, though usually not by choice. The term dragged would probably be more appropriate here. He was currently wearing black shorts that went just past his knees, and a red sweater. On top of his head is a blue baseball cap that he is never seen without, that he was currently wearing backwards, a small bit of his black hair just poking out from underneath the cap.

"Yeah well I'd like to go back to trying to sleep the rest of the week away if you don't mind." I said as I laid back against the ground once more closing my eyes to try and sleep. I should have known better.

"GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP MIKEY!" Vincent yelled before giving me a swift kick to my leg.

"Damn it!" I yelped as I started to rub my leg where he had landed the blow. "The hell was that for!"

"For being a lazy bum. Now get up and teach me how to duel!" Vincent said as he glared up at me.

"And why should I help someone who went and kicked me?" I said in as calm a voice as I could. Of course the twitching of my left eye gave away the fact that I was anything but calm.

"Please Mikhail-Oniisan?" I turned towards Ayame for a split second immediately regretted it. She was currently giving me her best imitation of a sad puppy. I tried resisting I really did, but that was a wasted effort. The only people I had ever seen resist that look was the girl's parents and to a lesser extent Naota.

"Oh jeez. Fine!" I shouted that last part which was greeted by cheers from Vincent and Ayame. Naota just seemed to roll his eyes at the antics of his companions. "I'm gonna go home and wake myself up fully. You guys gather all your cards and stop by my place in about two hours." After this Vincent and Ayame saluted me as if they were soldiers. I shook my head and just headed off to home.

As I walked home I had to wonder what brought this up. Yeah the kids watched the Duel Monsters professional tournaments but had never really showed any interest in actually dueling before.

Of course it was just my luck that they would come to me to learn. I am no professional duelist. The most I had ever done was win a few of the amateur tournaments at the local game shops.

Speaking of the game shops I was almost at the one closest to my house called "Daring Duelists." I noticed a few people near the window. They had to be duelists judging by the Duel disks either strapped to their arms or poking out of their packs. I decided to see what they were looking at I walked up behind them. None of them seemed to give me a second thought.

It was a poster advertising a new booster pack of duel monster cards called 'Pact With Wizards.'. Apparently Industrial Illusions had just released it yesterday with no warning at all to the general public about it. I wonder why there was no announcements about it before hand.

"I heard this Booster set Contains an extremely rare card designed by Pegasus himself." I heard one of the duelists in front of me say.

"Yeah. Probably some super powered card that any duelist would kill to have in their deck." Said the only female in the group.

"Probably not me. I like the balance of my deck. I doubt it'd be something that I could put in my deck without having to change it to support the card." Said the tallest of the three.

"Well not everyone is a Professional Duelist like you Daisuke. Normal people have to try and upgrade their decks." The female of the group said. 'Professional huh?' I tried to take a good look at him, but the only thing I could see with him facing away from me was the Green hoody that he wore.

"Yeah sure. Whatever floats your boat. C'mon lets go guys. I'm hungry and I know none of you have the money to spare on new cards right now." The man known as Daisuke said.

"Oh man. That's harsh. We could be missing out on a rare card man. You may not need it, but Juri and I could use all the help we can get." Said the other male in the group as they began to walk away.

"Yeah well you're all out of luck Jin, cause I'm not wasting any money on..." and that was all I could hear before they got to far off.

"Daisuke huh? Never heard of a pro with that name before." I mumbled to myself as I stood in front of the store. "I'll try and remember that name."

I was about to begin walking again but then began to think about the new booster pack. "Some new cards couldn't hurt could it." With that thought I walked into the store.

Now Daring Duelists may have not been one of the largest stores physically, but it probably had the largest amount of Duel Monster merchandise in the town. Where many other stores had a large variety of products, this store focused almost entirely upon Duel Monsters. It was also one of two stores in town with its own Duel arena for hologram projections.

I walked up to the counter only to find no one at the register and immediately became nervous. Now in any other store I would have simply waited for an employee or try to find a way to get some ones attention. However at Daring Duelists the place is run by a father and son and both of them shared the exact traits of being almost impossible to find and completely insane. To make matters worse they tended to show up in the oddest places out of absolutely no wh-

"How's it goin' Mikhail?" Came the voice of Dominic Yamamoto from right above me. I promptly fell over from shock.

"You crazy bastard what are you doing up there!" I yelled at the young man who was currently sliding out of the ventilation duct in the ceiling.

"Just thought it'd be fun. I saw a movie last night where the hero spent a good deal of his time in ventilation shafts." He said as he dusted off his apron. "I'm actually surprised that I was able to fit into 'em myself."

"Yeah... right." I couldn't help but shake my head at the insanity of this guy. I had known this guy for years and he had always shown signs of being a little off. Dominic had been a classmate of mine since I first started school. I never considered anyone to be my best friend, but if I had to pick someone it would be him. We'd been through so much together mainly things caused by his apparent lack of sanity.

"So what can I get ya today?" Dominic asked in an almost sincere voice, only to instantly change to a sly grin. "I know. Ya want some of the new booster packs that came out." I swear he almost looked like a cat right then.

"You read me like a book Dominic." I said with a grin, the adrenaline rush from earlier beginning to wear off.

"Like always." He said while putting on a fake look of arrogance. "Of course the problem is we're actually sold out." I let out a sigh of disappointment at this statement. "At least for the general public. While these babies were sellin' like hot cakes I managed to snag a box for ya. Of course don' tell my old man about it. I'm not supposed to do somethin' like that."

"Dude! You're the best!" I exclaimed in excitement as Dominic reached below the counter and pulled out a box of the new boosters.

"One box containin' twenty-four booster packs. Just like ya usually buy em." He said with a grin that threatened to split his face in half. He always knew that I tended to buy entire boxes most of the time and rarely buy a single pack, and had come through for me big this time. "Now because I risked life an' limb to keep these hidden from dad I want ya to do somethin' for me."

"And that is?"

"Win the next tourney with the cards I personally made sure ya got." He said with the sly look again upon his face. He then leaned forward to me and whispered "I'm gonna place a lot of money on ya. Don' tell dad of course. He doesn' like the unofficial bets people make at our tournaments and he'd definatly kill me if he knew I was taking part in them. Probably say somethin' about remaining impartial as an employee and the immorality of gambling."

I couldn't help but laugh. This was typical Dominic behavior. "I'll be sure to try. Who knows. I may have that rumored rare card in one these packs."

"Hehe... yeah." he said this while looking off to the side. This made me a little nervous. Dominic never acted anything less than obnoxiously cheerful.

"Dominic? Something going on?" I asked.

He looked around the store and made sure that nobody was in. He then once again leaned forward. "Two days ago when we got the cards delivered a representative of Industrial Illusions showed up. Apparently one was sent to all stores that got some. All this fuss was over that one card."

"But why? Is it really that special?"

"All we were told was that this card represented a special project by Pegasus. It would be of limited supply and its rarity was on the same level as that of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and the Dark Magician. This card is supposedly part of some plan of Pegasus' to shake up the pro world." He then let out a chuckle. "Now I ain' sayin' that the card is not in those packs of yers. In fact there hasn' been any reported findin's of this card throughout the whole world since the packs release. Maybe I managed to reserve the only box in the world to have one in it so far for ya. But tell me. Do ya believe that such a card would honestly end up here?"

"You're probably right. Besides its not like rare cards are what wins duels." I said but I felt a little sad too. I may be able to say that with a straight face but I couldn't help but remember how all of the top professional duelists had decks made almost entirely of rare cards.

"Don' worry about it Mikhail. Yer a great duelist. Probably never gonna be pro level." I took a friendly swipe at him at this statement and he laughed while he dodged it. "But yer definitely able to whip the pants off anyone in the amateur leagues."

"Yeah thanks for the vote of confidence." I said giving him a playful smirk. "Can I just pay for the box now? I got suckered into teaching Vincent and his friends how to duel and I'd like to get a shower before they show up at my house."

"Ha!. I feel for ya man. Those three annoy the hell outta me on the best of days"

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_Twenty Minutes later_

"I'm home!" I yelled as I walked into my house as I sat my backpack on the couch in the living room. I wasn't surprised when silence was my only answer. The only people who lived here was myself and my older brother who was usually never at home at this time of the day. I went upstairs to the bathroom and began to get undressed to take a shower. As I got into the bathroom I took a long hard look at myself in the mirror.

I would never call myself handsome, but I would never call myself ugly either. I'd say I was merely average. My hair was the typical brunette of the Japanese that was maybe a couple inches longer than a normal guys hair. My face still had a roundish trait from youth that was beginning to shape into a more defined face. My face was framed by a pair of wire-frame glasses that I had gotten five months ago. The only thing that seemed to stand out was the amount of freckles that covered my face, a trait that had been passed to me from my Russian grandfather on my mother's side that I was named after. My body was nothing to brag about either. I wasn't fat, but neither was I extremely fit. I had once had a bit of a lean muscular frame when I had tried my hands at sports, but that had been years ago and my body was now no where near the shape it was.

Finally sick of the self analyzation I got into the shower and turned the water on and leaned forward to rest my head against the wall. The feel of water was soothing against my back. As I let the water beat upon my back I began to think about how I had come to live with my brother.

It was a bit depressing really. My brother was ten years my senior and had always been the hard working type with perfect grades. My parents sang his praises because of all his accomplishments. Top in his class and captain of every sports team he ever joined my brother had left a large shadow for me to stand in growing up. Anything I tried to do he had already been there and had already been the best at it. This of course made me feel as if trying at all would be pointless and eventually just up and quit all but school, and I only just barely managed to graduate high school. This made my parents start to make comments about how they wished I was more like my brother. I began to hate them so much for it.

Of course I could never hate my brother for it. He was the only one who seemed to support me. He often stated that he felt guilty about it all and that he had taken away any chance for me to shine myself. He would say that if he could he would go back and stop himself from maybe joining a few sports teams or lower his grades. Anything to let me get my own time to show the world what I could do.

After graduating I had made no effort to join a college or even find a job. I would just spend the next few months lazing about in my room only leaving the house to play a few duels. This in turn infuriated my parents. One day I came home from hanging out at Daring Duelists to find my father on the front porch with a suitcase with some of my clothes in it. Handing it to me along with an envelope with enough money for a couple weeks stay in a cheap motel in it. He told me that I was to never come back to the house unless I either found a job or by some miracle I got into a school at that time of the year. He even went so far as to imply that he would rather I got a permanent residence elsewhere instead of ever coming back to disgrace his household ever again.

So I spent the next hour just walking through Domino in shock. There I was now homeless because of my parents and the only thing on me was some clothes, a little amount of money, and all of my cards in my backpack (Looking back I was glad I had taken all of them with me to try and get a few trades at the store otherwise I would not have them.) I was about to try and look for a motel when I heard a car horn from behind me. It was my brother.

Apparently he had been looking for me the last half an hour after our parents had told him what was going on. He seemed a little down at first but had a small smile on his face. He was relieved that he had found me.

We spent the next couple hours at a local burger joint talking about nothing important. We both silently agreed to at least have a few moments of sanity before we talked about this issue. I still remember the conversation we had.

(flash back)

"So what are you gonna do now?"

"I dunno bro. This whole thing has got my head jumbled and I can barely think."

"Mikhail. I know you probably don't want me to say this but dad has a point. He may have gone about it the wrong way, and probably a bit too extreme, but he did have a point."

"Yeah yeah. I need to try and be just like you."

"That's not what I'm saying at all!" He practically shouted as he slammed his fist against the table. "I'm me and you're you. Nothing we do will ever change that. However you do need to find what you want to do with your life. You've never been one for academics and I can not picture you at a normal nine to five job so that leaves one question. What do you want to do? What do you think you would like to be?"

I spent the next few minutes just staring up at the ceiling with my brother looking on with a patient look on his face.

"I have no idea." I said and I put my hands in my pockets, something I always did when I was insecure. "I mean I never really..." at that moment my left hand brushed against my deck of duel monster cards. "Dueling." I said quietly to myself.

"What?" My brother asked his interest peaked at the sudden change in my voice.

I took out my deck of cards and placed it on the table in front of my brother. "Dueling."

He would then spend the next couple minutes just staring at my eyes and I met his gaze as if this was a personal challenge. I would not back down no matter how much he argued against it. This may of been the first time I had ever seriously thought about trying for a professional dueling career but this was also the first time I felt absolute certainty about what I wanted to do.

Finally he nodded his head "Alright."

"That's it? Alright? No arguments?" I said in disbelief.

"None from me. That look in your eyes. I've seen that look before and let me tell you that people with that look can do amazing things."

"Yeah well I doubt the look in my eyes will be enough to convince dad to take me back."

"Who said anything about going back to our parents place."

"What?"

"Well I would think it would be an honor to have the next great dueling sensation staying in my house. Besides I have more than enough room to spare."

(End flash back)

I began to scrub myself down, maybe a bit too forceful as these memories ran through my head.

I would move in with him that night. Of course trouble would once again arise when the next day my brother called our parents to ask that they bring the rest of my stuff over. Oh did trouble find me again.

(Flash back.)

I ran to the door as the doorbell rang. I almost ran into my brother on the way and he laughed at my display of energy. I flung open the door only to see my mother. She didn't say a word as she came inside. I hadn't seen her yesterday when dad had kicked me out and had just assumed that she was all for it also, but the solemn look on her face made me think otherwise. Maybe she was here to apologize about what dad had done.

SMACK!

The stinging sensation of her hand slapping my face hard drove any doubts out of my mind as I fell to one knee.

"How dare you! We try and make you do something with your life and not even a day later we find you taking advantage of your brothers kindness! You pathetic little parasite! I will not allow you to leech off him like you tried to do to us! Just our luck and your uselessness will pass onto him and we'll have two sons who are worthless! You will leave now or so help me I will hit you again!" She was now a screaming banshee that seemed to hold no more love for me. What happened to the kind mother that had raised me?

My brother was standing in the back of the room looking to be rooted to the floor in disbelief. For once he had no idea what to do.

"Well? Are you gonna say anything? I see that this is gonna go the hard way." She practically screeched out as she reared back for another slap.

It never landed, my left had grabbed hold of her arm just inches before her hand made contact.

I pulled myself to my full height which sadly was actually an inch shorter than her, and stared into her eyes for a few seconds. I then did the most disrespectful thing I had ever done to her. I spit right into her face.

The look of absolute shock she wore was something I would always remember. I then left the room and ran up the stairs as my brother seemed to finally snap out of it cause I could hear him yell something at my mother that I could not make out.

(End flash back)

That was almost a year ago. The relationship between our parents and us had been tense ever since and I hadn't referred to myself with my family name ever since. I had placed myself under a self-imposed exile from the family.

Our father had a moving company bring my stuff to the house and in turn I had mailed him the money he had given me back since I didn't need it. I had absolutely no contact with either of them and, though my brother often went to visit them he would usually come home looking like he'd been yelling for at least an hour which of course was probably the case.

Finally feeling that I could not get any cleaner I got out of the shower and began to dry off. After feeling decently dry I went to my room and started to get dressed. I slid on a white t-shirt and then a denim vest that I kept unbuttoned. Sliding on a pair of boxers and a pair of worn blue cargo pants over that. I put a pair of socks on and my white sneakers. I got up and grabbed a pair of blue fingerless gloves from my dresser and slid those on.

Now fully dressed I walked down the stairs and made my way to the kitchen. I looked through the pantry for something easy to cook and then turned to the fridge only to find a note pinned to it with a magnet along with a ¥2000 note.

_Mikhail,_

_I'll be staying out late tonight. There's not much in the house to eat besides the broccoli casserole I made three nights ago. I left some money for takeout if you want, but knowing you you'll most likely eat the casserole and save the money for cards. Either way take care of yourself and I'll see you sometime tomorrow._

Of course he was correct about the casserole. I pocketed the money and removed the casserole from the fridge and shoveled some of it into a bowl. Placing the bowl in the microwave and setting the timer I then headed into the living room and grabbed my pack and then returned to the kitchen.

Taking out my deck, my binder that I stored my cards in, and the new pack of boosters I set out to work on opening each every one. I had about forty minutes till the kids would arrive and I wanted to at least get a few of these done. I went through each pack at a steady pace and made sure to read every cards description carefully to better understand them, then place in the card holders in my binder. I only stopped when the microwave timer went off signifying that my food was warmed up. Grabbing the casserole I began to eat while I continued to look at the cards.

Pact With Wizards as its name implied had a lot of spell casters in it, along with cards that had images of arcane sorcery or even stage magic. This delighted me quite a bit. I had always felt a bit of an affinity to stage magicians because my grandfather, Mikhail senior, had spent about ten years of his life working as one. Whenever he visited he would entertain me with all kinds of odd tricks he had picked up over the years. It was devastating to me when he had passed on when I was fourteen. I sometimes wondered what he would have thought about the situation with my parents.

As I went through each pack all the cards seemed to be common to uncommon cards with a few low-tier rare cards. Nothing to powerful, and definitely no Gold flecked names with holographic images denoting the highest level of rare cards, which I guessed the new rare card would be.

I was about halfway through when the I heard the doorbell ring multiple times in quick succession. I had been so absorbed in what I was doing that I jumped and knocked over the box set sending the remaining packs onto the floor. Cursing under my breath I picked them up as quickly as I could not noticing that in my haste I had accidently kicked one over to the corner, right behind the garbage can.

Whoever was at the door, most likely the kids, must have been very impatient as they had switched to beating on the door in an urgent manner.

"I'll be there in just a second!" I screamed loud enough for them to hopefully hear as I got up and ran to the door. Opening up the door I saw Vincent and Ayame standing there. However I grew concerned as I noticed that both were in tears. "What's wrong guys?"

"Mikhail-oniisan! N-Naota-oniichan... He... He.." She tried to finish her sentence but began to sob hysterically.

Vincent took over where she left off "Nate had split from us after you left earlier. Said he had somewhere to go but wouldn't tell us where. We then got a call from Nate's phone. Some strange man was on the other side and said 'Whoever this is better come get the brat.' said they had roughed him up a bit and was waiting outside warehouse twelve down by the docks."

I knew should have called the police or paramedics, but I wasn't thinking at the time. Motioning for the two to stay right there I ran back inside and grabbed the first aid kit that was kept on top of the fridge. Stuffing it into my backpack, I also on instinct put my cards into it. I was panicking and was not thinking straight. As I ran out the door I grabbed a pair of keys off a hook we kept on the walls that went to the spare car in the garage.

I locked the front door then opened the garage. Quickly entering the vehicle and starting the engines I pulled out. Vincent and Ayame got in the backseat and buckled up. As an after though I hit the button on the garage door control hooked to the steering wheel in order to shut the garage. "Hold on tight. We'll get Naota soon."

The drive was quick as I speeded in the direction of the docks, glad that no police officers were around to pull us over. I parked the car near the entrance, shut the engine off, got out of the vehicle and scanned the area looking for number twelve. After figuring out the general location I took off in that direction.

Number twelve was easy to spot cause it was the only warehouse that was open. Coming to a stop I took a look inside to find Naota sitting on a wooden chair in the middle of the warehouse. He had been beaten pretty badly with multiple bruises and cuts all over him, with his left eye beginning to swell shut. "Naota?" I put on my hand on his shoulder and took a good look at him. The boy was unconscious and I tried to wake him up. He groaned for a second and seemed to try and open his eyes only to lose consciousness again.

"Naota-niichan!/Nate!" Came the shout of the other kids as they finally caught up with me after my mad sprint here.

"Is he gonna be alright Mikey?" Vincent asked while I was checking his ribs.

"Nothing seems broken. He still should see a doctor, especially since it looks like he took quite the blow to the head."

"Oh it wasn't that bad. Merely had to shut 'im up." Said a new voice with a heavy accent from the left side of the room. Looking towards the source I saw a group of five men standing there. "Little bugger wouldn't quiet down so 'ad to knock 'im out." Definitely an Australian accent.

"Who are you! Why did you do this!" I screamed at the new arrivals. Four of them seemed to be nothing but your typical brain dead muscle heads, while the one in the middle, and the source of the voice was different. He was tall, but he had a much leaner frame and was currently shirtless with a pair of khaki shorts and sandals on. His blonde hair was spiked backwards in a windswept style and the grin on his face gave his green eyes a sadistic glow to them.

"The names Jason Derricks and I'm a member of Team Omega." He said in a boastful tone. I had heard of Team Omega before. A group of pros that worked together, mostly for tag team duels, but had quite a few high ranking members throughout the world that were known for there skill in single duels. They had gained a bad reputation lately for harsh punishments for failures. "Your little shit of a friend over there just 'appened to try and join us."

This came as a shock to me. Naota himself had never seemed interested in dueling. It had always been Vincent and Ayame who were duel monsters enthusiasts.

"I was impressed at first with how he had made it through the qualification tournament yesterday, but when he came here for his final test the little fuck chickened out when he 'eard what it involved."

"That doesn't explain why you did this!"

"Oh but it does mate. Nobody wastes Team Omega's time. If the little shit 'ad just taken the test... well he would 'ave still gotten pretty roughed up if he lost, but I wouldn't 'ave felt the need to take a little parting gift." At this he held up a duel disk. "Would have taken his cards too, but the team has a strict no card stealing policy. Still was funny as hell listening to him whine. Kept going on about how that was his best friends disk. Seemed really torn up about losing it." I ground my teeth as kept going on and on about it. I had never felt so angry in my life.

"Give that back!" I demanded.

"And why should I?" He said with an arrogant smirk on his face. Then suddenly he got this thoughtful look on his face. "You know what? I think I will give it back to you. On one condition though."

"And whats that?" I questioned him.

"I came 'ere today to duel. But not just any kind of duel of course. You see when you manage to get into Team Omega it's your job to come up with a new final test for the next canidate. I was the last duelist selected so its supposed to be my turn. 'owever thanks to that little shit I won't get a chance to try out my test." He then pointed straight at me. "That brings me to my offer. If you want the kids toy back you'll take his place. You won't get onto the team if you win of course considering this won't be official, 'owever I swear on my honor that win or lose I'll give it back."

"What exactly does this test consist?"

"Oh no that would be telling, and I ain't giving you a chance to chicken out like the little shit did. You want it, accept the terms." He said with a touch of finality in his tone.

"Vincent. Ayame. Take Naota to the vehicle. If I'm not back in half an hour call the paramedics." I took off my back pack and grabbed my deck from a side pocket. I then tossed Vincent the pack. "There is a first aid kit in there. Use it to take care of Naota's wounds."

"Yes sir." They both said in unison. They then grabbed Naota and supported him on theirs shoulders and began to head out. Ayame gave one last worried look before they rounded the corner.

"Cute kids. You their teacher?" Jason asked. "Cause if you taught that little shit this might be a pretty exciting duel. He might be a wuss, but I can't deny he showed skill."

"Hate to disappoint, but I hadn't even known Naota was into dueling till just now." I growled out. This guy was getting on my last nerve.

"Pity." He sighed. "Any way lets get to it mate." Jason did a quick motion to the muscle heads behind him. In a second two of them had grabbed me and dragged me to the center. Before I could react they had placed chains around my legs that I hadn't noticed before. I tried moving my legs, but the chains were bolted down to the floor.

"What the hell!" I exclaimed.

"A little precaution mate. Wouldn't want you running off once you learn what you're about to be put through." He said with that sadistic smirk back on his face. "Now since you don't seem to 'ave a duel disk of your own, I think I'll make this a little interesting by letting you use the very disk I took from your friend." He tossed it to me and I grabbed it. I placed it onto my wrist then placed my deck in the deck slot.

"Now this duel will be using advanced international format rules so we'll each start at 8000 life points, sacrifices will be required to summon monsters of higher levels, and the international ban and restricted list is in effect. Pretty much a typical pro style duel."

I nodded my head. I then noticed that we each had two of his goons next to us, one on our left, and one on our right. They all seemed to have a long slender rod in their hands. "Let me guess. This is part of the test?"

"Damn straight it is. Now no more talking. You'll figure out the rest as we go on." Jason said as he activated his disk.

"Right. Lets duel." I said as I activated Naota's disk.

Jason : 8000

Mikhail: 8000

"Since I'm the one who issued this challenge I think I'll let you go first."

"I don't really have a choice do I?"

"Not really mate." he said with a grin.

I sighed as I drew my first five cards, then my sixth as I entered my draw phase.

"I summon The Illusory Gentleman(1500/1600) in attack position." I declared as I placed the monster on the disk.

With a shimmer from the holograms the monster appeared. It wore a red and orange suit with a cape hanging from his shoulders. From its shoulders long spikes protruded from the fabric. It face and head was covered by an odd hat that looked like a demonic jesters hat with a large eye upon its center. In its hands was a cane the head of which had three blunt spikes atop of it.

"Now I set one card face down and end my turn. Your move."

"Not to bad but now its my turn to show you how it's done." he said while drawing his sixth card. "I set one monster face down in defense position and set three face down cards." All four cards appeared face down on his side of the field. "And I end my turn."

'_He seemed so confident yet he doesn't go on the offensive. I know those cards must be a trap, but I have to risk it.' _I drew my next card. "I summon Sealmaster Meisei (1100/900) in attack position."

This new monster looked a noble from long ago, dressed in red robes with large cone shaped hat on his head. In his hands were two talismans.

"Your monsters seem to be a little week mate. Please tell me you have better."

"Don't worry about my monsters. Worry about your own." _'If his cards are traps I will send in my weakest monster to test his defenses. _"Sealmaster Meisei Attack his monster!" and at that my monster, with a flourish of his hands that lit the end of his talismans on fire, threw his talismans at the face down monster. The card was immediately destroy, showing the image of some kind of germ before disappearing.

"The monster you just attacked was my Giant Germ (1000/100. His special effect is activated when he is destroyed and sent to the graveyard by battle. You now lose 500 life points."

Jason: 8000

Mikhail: 7500

I didn't think much of that little loss of life until I noticed movement from my left.

FWAP!

"ARGHHHH!" I screamed out as the goon whipped me once on the back with the rod he held.

"HAHA! See! This is my little extra part of the test. Every time one of us lose life points, those rods will descend upon our backs." The sadistic grin only increased even more. "Last year the proctor had a similar setup, only instead of a whipping electricity would course through us based on how much life points were loss. Now this was just fine for him cause he focused on getting a monster as strong as possible and letting it all out in one big attack. If all 8000 life points were lost in one attack it would almost kill the one who got attacked."

"Let... huff... me... wheeze... guess. You focus on small amounts of life points loss over time."

"Right in one go mate. Every time an effect removed his life points it would be some puny jolt that was like getting shocked with static. That was no fun of course so I devised this plan.

"You're one sick bastard." I choked out. I couldn't believe how much that hurt.

"Most likely. However we got a duel to finish. Can't go getting a psychiatric report going right now. Now since you destroyed my Giant Germ its other effect activates. I can now search through my entire deck for monsters with the name Giant Germ and special summon them in attack position. And guess what. I have two more." he said as two more germs were placed on the field. "Now just so you don't think you can take any of my life points I activate the continuous trap card Ultimate Defense Strategy: Lock Down. As long as this card is on the field all monsters that are summoned are switched to defense position automatically, including my new Germs!" Immediately both germs switched to defense position.

_Damn him. I still have a monster that can attack, but all it will lead to is me taking another whip to the back. I can't just attack blindly here or I'll get whipped too much._

"I set one card and end my turn."

He grinned as he drew another card. "And that begins another turn of carnage brought to you by Jason Derricks." looking at the card he then began to laugh. "I just drew a card that will have you begging for mercy. I summon Torture Expert (300/1200) in attack position."

The monster flashed onto the field. It was a man in a brown trench coat and no shirt on. His eyes were covered by sunglasses and a black bandana concealed his hair. You could see multiple instrument of torture hanging from the inside of his coat.

"Now as you might have guessed my trap Ultimate Defense Strategy: Lock Down takes effect and automatically switches him to defense position."

Jason: 8000

Mikhail: 7000

"What! How did my life points-"

FWAP!

"AHH!" I once again screamed as I felt my back get beaten by one of the rods, this time from the good on my right.

"Guess you didn't know about one of my monsters special abilities. You see every time he is switched from attack to defense position you are dealt 500 points of damage to your life points."

I couldn't respond. I had never dealt with such physical pain before and was ill prepared for this.

"What? My amazing dueling skill leave you speechless? Well that's just fine. I end my turn."

Jason: 8000

Mikhail: 6900

FWAP!

"Rargh!" I gasped as I dropped to my knees.

"I guess I forgot to mention another one of my monsters abilities. You see if Torture Expert is face up on the field at the end of my turn you are dealt another 100 points of damage. And since this is a separate deduction of life points you are once again struck down like the maggot you are!"

I was gasping for breath, all the while glaring daggers at Jason. I then noticed the feeling of warm liquid going down my back. That last one had left a gash.

"I won't give you the satisfaction of backing down. My turn." Drawing my card while still on my knees. I eyed it for a moment before pointing down the field at the Torture Expert. "Illusory Gentleman attack that despicable monster."

At my command the Gentleman rushed forwards and brought his scepter as if smash it onto the Experts face, but right before it could land the attack chains shot out from one of Jason's face down cards and drew my monster into it. It then rematerialized attached to what looked like a bastardized version of a water wheel you'd find in mills near rivers. While the wheel was still there it was placed within the open mouth of a demonic skull.

"I activate the trap card Nightmare Wheel. This card lets me choose one monster on your side of the field, and as long as my trap is face up on the field that monster can no longer switch positions or attack!"

_Not good. With that monster under the influence of that trap I don't have a monster strong enough to get through the defense of his Torture Expert. Add the fact that both of my traps cards rely on my opponent attacking me, something I doubt he has any plan of doing. I don't want to admit it but I seem to be done for._

"I... I end my turn." I manage to say as I felt all hope leaving me.

"You know you're really taking the fun out of this." He said with a sneer on his face. "I mean I enjoy inflicting pain on my opponents as much as the next guy, but I was hoping you'd put up a decent fight at least. You don't even have any decently strong monsters" He then spat on the floor in front of me. "You're absolutely worthless!"

_Worthless_... That word ran through my head over again. I had heard that word for so long that I despised it. Even my parents had referred to me as worthless. _Not anymore!_

With all the strength I could muster I pulled myself to my feet and then stood straight and tall. "I am Mikhail Kurokawa! And I am in no way worthless!" I declared as I looked Jason straight in the eyes. This was going to be a defining moment of this duel one way or another. I had finally felt the courage to take up my last name and had proclaimed who I was proudly.

"That's a nice little speech, but why don't you just prove it to me." He said as he drew his card. "And now comes my standby phase."

Jason: 8000

Mikhail: 6400

FWAP!

This time I did not scream out, not willing to give him anymore thrills from my pain. I once again could feel that this lash of the rod had left a cut on my back.

"I must admit I'm impressed. Now if you're wondering how you're life points were lost this time it is the effect of my Nightmare wheel. As long as its face up on the field you will take 500 points of damage during my standby-phase. I now switch my torture expert to Attack position."

_Is he crazy! There's no way he can attack with a monster that weak._

"I know what you're thinking, but believe me I have no intention of attacking. I now activate the last ability of my Torture Expert. You see once per turn I can switch my card back to defense position. That means you take another 500 points of damage."

Jason: 8000

Mikhail: 5900

FWAP!

I could feel the immense pain course from my back all the way to my knees, but I refused to show anything to the mad man before me.

"Now this is getting interesting. I wonder how long you can hold onto this newfound strength. I'm gonna enjoy breaking you."

"Get on with your turn!" I yelled out in annoyance.

"Jeez don't be such a stick in the mud. I end my turn, course you know what that means. Another 100 points of damage done!"

Jason: 8000

Mikhail: 5800

FWAP!

A third time my skin broke apart under the rod. I had to hurry this up or I would pass out from blood loss.

I drew my card and then examined it. _This just might be the card I need. But first lets prep the field. _"I set two cards on the field." _That will do. Now for the main event._ "I play the card I just drew, the spell card Gryphon's Feather Duster. This spell card destroys all spell and trap cards on my side of the field and then restores to me 500 life points for each one destroyed and since I had four spell and trap cards on the field I gain a total of 2000 life points back."

Jason: 8000

Mikhail: 7800

"Hahahaha!. Too bad the restoring of life points doesn't heal your wounds. This just means that I'm more likely to win by default when you pass out from the pain!"

"I have no intention of losing this duel Jason. You see three of those cards that were destroyed relied upon you attacking my monsters. Since you won't attack my monsters I put those cards to good use."

"But you destroyed four cards. Are you telling me you destroyed a card you could have used for an extra 500 life points?"

"Not at all. In fact I needed to destroy it in order to make use of it." Suddenly from out of the ground in front of me a hologram of a skeletal hand appeared. "You see one of those cards was my Gift From the Grave spell card. In order to activate its effect it has to be Destroyed and sent to the graveyard by an effect I control. Thanks to it I can now draw from my deck until I have a total of six cards in my hand." The hand reached up to the duel disk and seemed to grab four cards from my deck and placed them in my hand.. I could hear mechanisms inside the disk that had ejected the cards to make this illusion work.

"Clever. Lets see what this little trick managed to get you."

"Don't worry. I won't disappoint you. I sacrifice my Illusory Gentleman and my Sealmaster Meisei to summon my Mikazukinoyaiba in attack position.(2200/2350)"

A humanoid shaped dragon appeared on my side of the field. It wore red and black armor and its hand was wicked looking crescent moon shaped blade.

"That's quite the mouthful to say ain't it. Well congratulation. Because you sacrificed your gentleman my Nightmare Wheel is now destroyed."

"That's not the only card I plan on destroying. I now place the equipment spell card Fairy Meteor Crush on my Mikazukinoyaiba. This card makes every attack my monster does to one of your defense position monsters take life points away from you equal to the difference of my monsters attack and your monsters defense."

"That's a nice card. You think you'd want to trade it after this is over with."

"Stop acting like this is some friendly duel you sick freak!" I screamed out as I pointed towards him. "Forget it! Mikazukinoyaiba attack his Torture Expert!" With that my dragon launched itself forward, and with a slash to fast to be seen, split the torture expert in half.

Jason: 7000

Mikhail: 7800

FWAP!

My eyes widened at the familiar sound, half expecting to feel pain in my back. When none came I looked over to my opponent in shock. I had not been expecting them to actually hit him also. The rod in the hand of the goon on Jason's left had blood dripping from it.

"Weren't expecting that huh? I told you that it would happen to both of us. These men are under orders to inflict pain on us the moment our life points drop. I am a man of my word. In fact I made sure that the two strongest men were the ones to hit me." He then let out a chuckle as if letting me in on some funny joke. "You know what they say. If you can't take don't dish it out. Well I definitely can take it."

Unable to think of anything to say I merely set one set one card down and ended my turn.

"I think we stunned the boy speechless." Jason then drew his card. "I set one card face-down. Now I must say I'm not one who likes surprises too much so I think im gonna activate my trap card The Eye of Truth! You see this little number lets me take a look at your hand as long as it's on the field.

Suddenly the holograms of the disks projected exact copies of my cards in the air for Jason to see.

"Hmm. Rogue doll, De-spell, Queen bird, and Dawnbreak Gardna. I must say most of those cards are pathetic mate." He then began to rub his chin. "Well at least I know that you ain't got much else hiding in that hand worth worrying about. Well I now switch both my Giant Germs to Attack mode and end my turn then."

As I drew my card (Last will) I grinned at Jason. "I hope you haven't forgotten the effect of your own card. While The Eye of Truth is on the field and I have a spell card in my hand I gain 1000 life points."

"Oh I know that. That why I'm gonna activate my trap card Bad Reaction to Simochi before your standby phase.. You see this card makes it so that any effect that would restore life points to you instead reduce your life points by the same amount."

Jason: 7000

Mikhail: 6800

FWAP!

I had definitely been caught off guard for that so was not able to brace myself for the pain. Gritting my teeth I dropped my cards out of my hands. Thankfully he could see my cards anyway so it didn't matter too much.

Once I managed to pull myself together I picked up my cards and glared at Jason. His deck was truly a devious piece of work. It made each move a calculated and precise attack against me.

"I set my two spell cards face down and then summon Rogue Doll (1600/1000) in attack position. I now will attack one of your Giant Germs with my Mikazukinoyaiba."

Jason: 5800

Mikhail: 6800

FWAP!

He didn't even flinch. In fact Jason almost looked like he was in ecstacy.

Jason: 5800

Mikhail: 6300

FWAP!

Thankfully I knew this was coming, but it seemed to only help a little. I was absolutely sure the back of my shirt and vest were soaked in my own blood.

"Now I will have my Rogue Doll attack your last Giant Germ."

Jason: 5200

Mikhail: 6300

FWAP!

Jason: 5200

Mikhail: 5800

FWAP!

I was beginning to feel faint. I had to win this soon or it was over. "I end my turn."

"My turn." Jason drew his card. "I set one monster face-down in defense mode. And now that all three of my Giant Germs are within my graveyard I activate the spell card V-Formation Rescue. This card can only be activated when three monster cards with the same name are in my graveyard. I am then allowed to place all three of those cards into my deck. However if those monster have less than 1000 attack points I may summon one of those monsters onto the field in attack position. You know what that means. Time to say hello to Giant Germ once again."

"Not those cards again!"

"Oh yes. And thanks to my Ultimate Defense Strategy: Lock Down my card is automatically switched to defense position."

I nearly collapsed right then and there. This whole duel was beginning to get to me. Jason seemed to have a plan for everything, and judging by the grin on his face he was no where near done.

"And now to ensure my life points are protected I activate the spell card Brutal Interrogation. At the cost of one card from my hand I can look under one of your set cards on the field and if it happens to be a spell card I get to play it as if it were my very own! And in your desperation to hide your spell cards from my Eye of Truth's effect I now have two spell cards to pick. And I choose to use your De-spell to remove Fairy Meteor Crush from Mikazukinoyaiba! And with that I end my turn."

I was sweating as I drew my card. I didn't want to look because I knew if it was a spell card that would mean The Eye of Truth's effect would activate.

The card I drew was Card Destruction.

Jason: 5200

Mikhail: 4800

FWAP!

At that moment I believe I had almost lost consciousness, however I forced myself to remain standing. "I activate Card Destruction. Now both of us must discard our hands and draw cards equal to the amount of cards we discarded."

I discard and drew two cards as he did the same with his single card. I had drawn Polymerization and Royal Magical Library "I set one card on the field and then have my Mikazukinoyaiba attack your face-down monster."

"You fell into my trap! The card you just attacked was the monster Marshmallon! Not only can this monster not be destroyed in battle, but when it is attacked while face-down you lose 1000 life points!

Jason: 5200

Mikhail: 3800

FWAP!

"Ugh..." I fell to my knees, no longer able to put on a strong face. This was taking too much out of me. "I... I end my turn."

"Oh this is the sweetest part. I can already see your spirit breaking!" He drew his card and then immediately played it. "I play upstart goblin. This allows me to draw one card. Now normally using this card would mean you gain 1000 life points, however thanks to Bad Reaction to Simochi you lose them instead.

Jason: 5200

Mikhail: 2800

FWAP!

I screamed out in pain this time. I'm sure everyone in the city could hear me.

"I now play my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy my Ultimate Defense Strategy: Lock Down. That card is only going to get in the way now since I'm going on the offensive."

_Offensive! But none of his monsters are strong enough to destroy my monsters._

"I set one card down on the field and switch my Giant Germ into attack position. I now will have my Germ attack your Rogue doll!"

"A suicide attack!"

"Exactly. I'm gonna force all three of my Germs to be destroyed in order to inflict a total of 1500 points of damage. Sure I lose 1800, but I feel that now that the difference in our life points is as large as it is that this will be worth it."

The first Giant Germ attacked my Rogue Doll and was immediately destroyed. This then brought the other two Giant Germs onto the field in attack position. Both launched assaults at my doll destroying themselves.

Jason: 3400

Mikhail: 1300

Both of us were hit with three rapid-fire lashes to the back. I was now lying on the ground, barely remaining conscious while Jason still stood firm, if a bit pale.

"I am impressed with you. I can't believe you've lasted this long."

_What did he say? I can barely hear him. My head is pounding and I can barely see._

"Do you want to forfeit now mate? It's no shame being worthless."

_There's that word again. Maybe I am worthless. Maybe I should just lay down and rest._ I began to close my eyes, ready for a long rest.

_What the hell am I thinking! _My eyes snapped open. Groaning loudly I brought myself back to my knees, unable to conjure the strength to stand.

"Never. I'll never give up." I barely managed to make out.

"If that's the way you want it then I'll just activate my face-down card Scapegoat."

Four goat tokens were now on the field all for the purpose of protecting his life points.

I drew my card and had cringed when I saw the image of De-Fusion.

Jason: 3400

Mikhail: 300

FWAP!

I was almost completely numb now. I had to finish this quick. I pressed a button on the duel disk. "I now activate my face down card I placed before you had played your Eye of Truth." I said so quietly that it was practically a whisper. "I activate Reckless Greed, drawing two more cards at the cost of skipping my next two draw phases."

_I had been so fearful that leaving myself vulnerable like that would lose the duel. Now this was most likely going to be the last turn anyway one way or another._

I drew my two cards and saw Premature Burial and Emergency Provisions. I laughed. I couldn't help it. My deck had been spitting out practically every spell card in my deck since Jason played that damn Eye. Jason must have gotten it also because he began to chuckle as well.

_Now what can I do?_ I was so tired that my mind was in a fog. I was about to just give up when I had an epiphany. _That just might work. Oh but is it gonna hurt._

"I activate Emergency Provisions. I now send my set Last Will spell card to the graveyard in order to gain 1000 life points."

Jason: 3400

Mikhail: 1300

"And now I play Premature Burial. Paying 800 life points I special summon Sealmaster Meisei (1100/900)."

Jason: 3400

Mikhail: 500

FWAP!

_Is it a bad sign that I didn't feel that._

"And... n-now..." that's not good. "I a-activate Polymerization to fuse together my Mikazukinoyaiba and Sealmaster Meisei to summon Sealed Dragon Knight of the Moon (3200/3200)"

Floating before me now was a human knight in red and black Armor that resembled my Mikazukinoyaiba. He now wielded a spear that was the same color of the moon with a talisman like those of Sealmaster Meisei attached to the blade.

"Now that's a monster. But do you honestly think you'll be able to make it through my defense before those last bit of life points are gone? One more magic card in your hand and this duels over."

"There.. There w-won't be a another turn. F-first I m-must pay h-half of my life points." I flinched at my own words.

Jason: 3400

Mikhail: 250

FWAP!

I couldn't take anymore. I began to heave as the broccoli casserole I ate earlier was now on the floor in front of me. After a couple seconds of my vomiting I wiped my mouth and looked towards jason.

"A-And n-now m-my Dragon Knights special ability activates. All cards on the field except for Sealed Dragon Knight of the Moon are destroyed."

The knight held up his spear in the air as the holograms created an artificial night sky. From behind some clouds the moon began to peak through and a beam of light landed upon the Knight. After a few seconds he brought his spear down onto ground and a large explosion filled the room. When the debris settled the only card left on the field was Sealed Dragon Knight of the Moon.

"And now my D-Dragon... Attack him directly!"

Jason: 200

Mikhail: 250

FWAP!

"A-and n-now... to finish you off. I activate the spell card De-Fusion to split my monster back to its original c-component m-monsters." Mikazukinoyaiba and Sealmaster Meisei were now back on the field.

I tried seeing Jason's face but everything was so blurry. He must have known there was no way for him to win, but all I could see was a blurry image in front of me.

"N-now... N-now... Mika... Mika..." and at that moment I collapsed.

$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%$%

_Jason's point of view._

I couldn't help but sigh as I rubbed the back of my neck. I could see my subordinates looking at me as if to ask what to do now.

"Standard Omega team policy. If he doesn't wake up within 30 seconds after passing out he officially forfeits the duel." _Course since this isn't an official match It won't matter anyway. We both know that he won._

We waited for the thirty seconds to pass and once it did I deactivated my Duel disk.

"Wooh what a duel!" I exclaimed. "A bit boring at first but boy did he come through in the end. I have to admit that his was the most fun I've had in years."

"What should we do now boss?" One of them, Flag I think his name was, spoke up.

"He told the little brats to call for paramedics after thirty minutes. We're a bit past that point so they're probably on the way now. We should scram." I said to the four of them. They all immediately got the message and were all now on there way to the designated rendevous point.

I lingered for a moment longer though. This duelist had definitely impressed me. _Course his deck seemed to be a hodgepodge of cards thrown together. I mean there's definitely some strategy to it, but it just doesn't seem to contain that spark that showed he put his heart and soul into it. If he could just learn that lesson I bet he'd be amazing._

I spared one final look as I heard the ambulance heading this way before I ran off.

_Mikhail Kurokawa eh. I'll be sure to remember that name._

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	2. Chapter 2

Everything was darkness. Sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. All completely blank. I had to wonder if this what hell truly was. Such nothingness was enough to drive a man insane. I was about to scream out when finally I caught something. A simple smell. It was an unnaturally clean smell that burned into my senses.

Soon I could hear the sound of beeping. It was a steady constant sound that seemed to pulse with something inside of me. Then there was the sound of a distant voice calling for someone.

I could also feel what felt like linen sheets beneath me, and a warm blanket laid on top of me. Of course with the return of my sense of touch came a great pain on my back. I deduced that I was laying on my stomach.

Taste returned to me bringing a taste like I had just brushed my teeth, but I could also taste a hint of bile.

Finally I managed to open my eyes. White was the only word I could come up with to describe the place. Everything was some of form of white.

A hospital. I had to be in one. This was confirmed when I realised I was hooked up to an IV machine and had seveveral wires hooked up to me to monitor my vitals. Looking around I saw three figures in chairs. Vincent, Ayame, and Naota were all sleeping soundly with them leaning against each other in one way or another.

I was relieved to see that though bandaged up a bit Naota did not look like he sustained any permanent damage.

I then heard the sound of a door opening and I turned towards the source and found Dominic standing at the door. "Yer awake! I knew ya wouldn' be down for long!"He exclaimed.

"Shh! You'll wake the kids." I said with a finger to my lips. Dominic quickly slapped his hand to his mouth. While this was going on I was going through the painful process of sitting myself up.

"Ya might wanna be careful. Ya had to get quite a few stitches in yer back man." He then sat himself on the foot of my bed.

"How long have I been out?" I asked as I reached for a large cup of ice water on a table beside my bed. I couldn't believe how thirsty I was.

"About six hours. At least two of those on a table gettin' yer back fixed." He said.

_So it's probably around midnight. _"How did you know I was here?"

"Well just imagine me having a nice dinner interupted by a frantic phone call from Vincent because he couldn' get hold of yer brother either and didn' know who else to call."

"Does my brother know I'm here?"

"No. I tried gettin' in contact with him myself after everythin' calmed down a bit but his cell phone was turned off or somethin'."

"Good. I'd like to keep it that way. He doesn't need to worry about me." I said as I closed my eyes. I then brought the water to my mouth and began to drink. The cool sensation was a relief on my throat. I drank like I hadn't had water in days.

"I don' like the idea of keepin' this from yer brother."

"Could you please though?"

"Alright but on one condition. I'd like to hear the whole story of what happened. I got the first half from the kids, but would really appreciate it if I learned what happened after they left."

So I told him about the events in that warehouse, the memories still quite fresh in my mind. As I recalled the duel Dominic would flinch every time I mentioned any loss of life points.

" And that's when I summoned my Sealed Dragon Knight of the Moon. Everything gets really blurry after that." I rubbed my head as I tried to remember what happened.

"Ya most likely used its ability to destroy all the cards on the field. I have to say that was a stupid move in that situation. Why didn' ya just quit man?"

I looked down at the floor at this. "I... I couldn't. If I did I would just prove to everyone that I really was worthless." Dominic looked like he was about to say something but I cut him off. "My parents thought I was nothing but worthless. My mother said as much to me after I was kicked out."

"Yeah well they're wrong man!" Dominic shouted out only to cover his mouth up right afterwards. "Oops..." We both looked to see if the kids had awaken but thankfully they remained in blissful sleep.

"My brother has told me something along those line ever since but it's hard to not think of myself that way." I sighed and then I ran my fingers through my hair. "You know I have only told my brother this but I have a dream to be a professional duelist. I guess knowing that there was someone who had already reached my dream right before me ignited a desire to test myself against him."

"And when he had called me worthless something in me snapped. I started thinking about the cards in my hand differently than before. I didn't care what would happen to me. I was just determined to win."

Dominic just sat beside me for a few seconds a deep look on his face. Then suddenly he began to laugh.

"What's so funny! I'm being serious man!"

"I'm not laughin' at ya man. I'm laughing cause all the years I've known ya I never even guessed ya had that dream." He then began calm down enough to flash me a toothy grin "Ya always seemed to0 lazy for it."

I grabbed hold of my pillow and tossed it at his face. I probably should have thought this through though because I immediately began to hiss in pain from the wounds on my back.

"I told ya to be careful man. Maybe you should just go to sleep. I'll take care of the kiddy brigade and make sure they don' go blabbing what happened to your bro. Maybe I'll call up yer bro and tell him that yer staying at my place."

"I'd like that. He worries about me too much." I said while Dominic got up and began to stretch his arms out.

"Well he might have a good reason if this kinda stuff happens to ya often." he said with a slight chuckle. "I bet the nurses will show up soon to check up on ya. I'll probably tell them yer awake on the way to the pay phone. Oh and FYI there's this really hot nurse that I think has been checking ya out while ya were out." My pillow was once again tossed at him. The pain was so worth it.

"I'm gonna kill you."

"Well ya can do that later." He then got a solemn look on his face. "Ya know I was gonna tear into ya over doing somethin' that dangerous for a simple duel disk but then Naota told me about what it meant to him. That thing has an incredible amount of sentimental value to him. It apparently belonged to the guy who taught him how to duel. Now he didn' go into detail about it, but it sounds like the former owner is dead and that disk was the only thing he had left of him." He sighed and shook his head for a moment. "What ya did was foolish and dangerous, but in the long run I think it just might have been the right thing."

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_The next morning_

"No! I am not staying here any longer and that's final!" I was practically yelling at the doctor.

"But sir. You have had multiple lacerations across your back some of them quite deep. With how close some of them were to each other, and that some crossed over each other, they were extremely difficult to suture up. I believe you should remain under supervision to ensure that your wounds heal properly and that they don't risk infection." The poor man seemed to be practically pleading to me. I sighed and began to rub my the bridge of my nose, my glasses pushed upwards for a bit.

"I'll come here everyday for inspection if you wish. but I just can't remain here. This place will drive me insane if i stay here any longer."

"But-"

"No buts!" This was giving me a headache. "If it's getting in trouble for letting an injured patient out of your care that your worried about I'll be glad to sign some kinda form saying that you'll be no way responsible for what happens to me."

" I don't thin-"

"ARGHH!" I finally screamed out. Dominic was standing in the corner the entire time trying to not to burst out laughing.

The doctor finally just scratched his head and sighed. "I can see I'm not gonna get through to you. If I agree to let you go you have to at least let me show you how to take care of your wounds. I also have to get a promise from you that you won't do any kind of heavy lifting. Any kind of strain on your back could cause even more damage."

So I would then spend the next hour or so listening to lectures from the doctor as he taught me what I needed to know. A few of these things caused Dominic to laugh cause he knew it would require help from another person. Dear lord this was gonna be a pain in the back. Literally.

Finally I was allowed to leave the hospital. Of course one problem I hadn't thought of was how much trouble moving around was gonna be. Every step would send a sharp pain shooting up my spine. The worst part was how weak I felt. The blood loss hadn't been enough to require a transfusion but it sure as hell took a lot out of me.

I had to have Dominic drive me home.

_The next few weeks are gonna be hell._

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_Twenty minutes later at Mikhail's house._

"All I'm sayin' man is if ya dueled as well as ya argued with the doc ya could probably be a match even for Yugi Muto." Dominic said as he opened the door to the house, a bag of take out in one hand and my backpack slung over his shoulder.

"I swear when I'm fully healed you better never fall asleep near me." I said as I followed him in, my own bag of food held in my right hand.

"Sure. I know the drill. Pain and sufferin' of unimaginable magnitude. I'll wish I was in hell blah blah blah." He said as he laid my pack beside a coffee table in my living room and fell onto the couch. He then grabbed the remote and turned on the television and began flipping through the channels.

"Anything good on?" I asked as I sat down on a recliner.

"Nothin' really. Mostly just news or infomercials." Dominic said while looking bored.

I was about to tell him to just give it up when I noticed something on a channel he passed through. "Wait!" I practically shouted. "GO back a few channels."

"What? Ya notice somethin' interesting?" He said as he started going back.

"Stop. This will do." I said as I leaned back carefully in the chair.

"A magic show?" Dominic asked with a slight twitch in his eyes. "Don' ya think that yer a little old for this stuff?"

"Hell no!" I said with a grin on my face. "My grandfather used to do all kinds of tricks to entertain me as a kid. I always watch these cause they remind me of those times."

"Yeah yeah. Yer still freakin' crazy." He said as he began to look around. "Where do ya got those new cards? I wanna take a look at 'em."

My interest switched from the TV really quick. If there was one thing I loved more than magic shows it's dueling. "In my backpack. I only got through half of them before all hell broke out yesterday." Dominic grabbed my bag and handed it to me. after a bit of searching I pulled out the remaining packs and my binder of cards. "The card's I've already looked at are on the last page." I said as I began to open up a pack.

"I can feel it. There's a rare card in this bunch." Dominic said as he began searching through what I'd already seen.

We spent the next half an hour looking through the cards (And trying to watch as much of the show as possible). A few packs did manage to have a couple high-tier rare cards that would have made all the packs worth it alone but according to Dominic those cards were listed on the Industrial Illusions website while the rare card was still a mystery since no one had found one yet. Pegasus seemed determined that no one would know what it was until it was found.

Finally I was on the last pack. I opened the wrapper carefully and removed the cards. This was the last chance for the rare card.

"C'mon lets see that new rare card.." Dominic said while rubbing his hands together in anticipation

I went through each card one by one feeling anxious as each card was looked at. I could feel Dominic going insane as I refused to break my habit of reading each card before moving to the next.

Finally there was only one more card to look at. My hand was practically shaking from the tension. _C'mon. It's one card. You've never been nervous about opening other packs before. You're only making such a big deal about it because of all the fuss. _

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and turned over the card. Just barely bringing myself to open one eye I looked down.

Magician's Pet Tiger

Normal Monster

Fire/Beast

Level 1

500/500

Lore: This tiger has been trained for illusion since birth. Only a true magician knows how to bring out his potential

It was a common card. I let out a deep sigh. Whether it was a sigh of disappointment or relief I could not tell at the moment. I was just glad the tension was gone.

"Well that was a bit anticlimactic." Dominic said as he collapsed against the couch once more.

"Did you honestly expect someone like me to get a card like that? Cards like that don't come to duelists like me."I said in a huff. I knew I sounded like some snotty little kid but at the moment I was coming down from the excitement and was starting to feel a bit terrible.

"Man don' be sayin' somethin' like that about yerself. Yer a great duelist. Ya just haven't reached yer potential yet." Dominic said to try and cheer me up.

"I don't think I have much in the potential department. Duelist with potential are the ones who show up on televised duels while duelist like me stay in the amateurs forever."

Dominic just stared at me for a couple second then opened his mouth. "Ya sound like such a pathetic little pussy ya know that?" I wish I had a pillow to throw at him, but I couldn't help but smile also. That was pure Dominic.

"You're probably right. At least I have you there to give me a swift kick in the ass."

"Literally and Metaphorically." Dominic joked as he grinned. "Well I got some work to do at the store. Ya'll be fine by yerself right? I won' find yer body tomorrow over a pile of cards in some weird ritual suicide right?"

"Get out of here you moron." I said irritably.

"Will do."

And with that Dominic was gone. I was now alone with only my thoughts to keep me company. Deciding that brooding was not gonna be my main activity today I got up from the chair, letting out a hiss of pain while doing so. _First course of action would be the pain medication the doctor prescribed and a drink. _

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from a cabinet. I filled it with water, reached into my pocket to pull out the medicine bottle and got myself two pills out.

I quickly swallowed the capsules and followed it with water. I was about to leave the kitchen when something caught my eye.

_No way. It can't be._

There on the table, lying on a folded piece of paper was another "Pact with Wizard" booster pack. Grabbing the pack and unfolding the note I immediately recognized the neat and elegant hand writing of my brother.

_Mikhail,_

_I found this lying behind the garbage can last night when I came in. I hope you treat your cards better than this. Can't have the next pro duelist ruining his cards from neglect right?_

I had to laugh at the situation. I must have kicked the pack away in the rush from yesterday. And now I was gonna go through the anxiety of another pack. I was almost tempted to throw the pack out.

Of course I tore into the pack. Thankfully most of the cards in this pack were copies of what I'd already read so I quickly made it to the last card.

I laid the last card face-down and sat down. I just stared at the back of the card and began to sip my water. This card was it. My last chance. More packs wouldn't be on the shelves again for a couple weeks and there would probably be less copies of the rare card then the first sets, if there was any at all.

Finally I brought my hand to card and began to turn it over. My eyes began to widen as I saw the gold flecked name and holographic image. This card was it! I had the card designed personally by Pegasus!

I could only stare at the card. The name, the image, the effect, and stats. At first it seemed a little under powered for all the hype but something about it lit a fire within me. This card called for me in a way no other card had before.

I pulled out my deck and looked from it to the single card. I could place it in my current deck but something about that didn't sit well with me. My deck was solid and could hold it's own against many opponents. I had started out with this deck and had of course made many changes, but in a way that seemed more like building onto it over time than starting a new deck.

For the first time since I took up dueling I began to disassemble my deck. As I put each card into my binder I couldn't help but thank them. Finally with the last card placed in my binder I turned to the first page of cards.

It was time to start from scratch.

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_Two weeks later at Kaiba Corp_

We were finally finished. We had thoroughly gone through the entire games coding with a fine tooth comb and removed every possible malicious piece of coding we could find.

"This is such a relief." I heard my employer say from beside me. The weeks had not been kind to him. He looked like he hadn't slept a decent nights sleep in months which probably wasn't too far from the truth.

"Your dream project is finally complete Kaiba-Sama." I said a hint of pride in my voice. I was glad to be the one to help him bring the game to its completion.

"Not completely done yet, but probably as close as we can get." Seto said as he began to save all the progress.

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion.

"You've never been part of a game project like this before have you?"

"Not really Kaiba-Sama."

Seto let out a small sigh and began to explain. "In many games like MMOs or other similar games they go through a phase where they allow gamers to test the game. This is called a beta phase. "

"And you plan to have a similar test?"

"In a way. However my way is definitely gonna be a bit more interesting." Seto said with a smirk on his face.

How?"

"You'll know soon enough. However I'm gonna need someone to supervise the entire thing. Especially since I won't be able to do so myself."

"Huh? Why would you be unable to supervise yourself Kaiba-Sama?" I asked. I was more than confused now. After all the trouble with this why wouldn't he want to head the testing himself.

Of course I became a little nervous when Seto looked at me with a scowl on his face. "Could you do me a favor?" he practically growled out.

"Y-yes!"

"Stop calling me Kaiba-Sama! I know you have a lot of respect for me, but it's really starting to irritate me. Just call me Kaiba or even Seto.

"Y-yes Kaib... Seto." I was a little embarrassed I almost forgot about my question. Speaking of which. "So why not? I'd think you would want to monitor the testing yourself.?

"Because I'm gonna be taking part myself as a normal player. No Game Master abilities or special privileges." The smirk on his face never left the whole time he said this.

"But why? Why would it matter if you're a normal player or Game Master?"

"You'll find out tomorrow when I announce the testing. I'm gonna bring focus to this game in a big way. Of course..." His smirked got even wider. "I'm gonna need you to be the Head Game Master while I'm in there. In fact with my busy schedule I doubt I can give this game the attention it deserves even after the beta is finished."

"You mean..."

"That's right. I'm placing you as Head of Development for this project. This means that there will only be two people over you in this company and that is Myself." He paused for a second and I could swear his smirk took on a condescending quality to it. "And my little brother Mokuba."

I could feel my eye twitching. Of course the vice-president was above me. Still didn't help that a little kid was one of my direct superiors.

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_The next day at Mikhail's house_

_"Ya gonna be okay enough to show up at the tournament today?"_ came the voice of Dominic over the phone.

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it." I said while grinning. I couldn't wait to try out my new deck.

_"Just make sure ya put some of those new card in yer deck. Ya might not have the rare card but I'm sure a few of those could come in handy."_

_Oh if only you knew. _I had kept the knew card a secret from Dominic for the past two weeks. I couldn't wait to see his face when I popped it out on the field.

_"Still sucks that no one has found the damn thing though. Makes me wonder if the thing even exists. If it does there must only be one of them or those who have it are keeping it under wraps."_

"Yeah. I doubt anyone would want to show off a new ace-in-the-hole too early." It took everything I had to keep my voice from cracking. I was about to laugh my head off.

_"Anyway I gotta get back to work. Dad is a real slave driver the day before a tournament. I'll see ya later."_

"Yup. I can't wait till then." With that we both hung up.

I let out a sigh of relief before bursting out in laughter. The last two weeks were tough. I was keeping my injuries secret from my brother (rather easy considering how much time he was spending at work lately) and keeping my new card a secret from Dominic (definitely the hardest of the two.) Now it was time to show the world (or at least the local duelists) my new deck.

I then heard the sound of my stomach growling. In my excitement I had forgotten to eat this morning. I thought about maybe fixing myself something to eat but then I remembered that there was a new burger joint opening downtown. Since I had plenty of time before the tournament I decided to walk down and give it a try.

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_Forty minutes later_

I was currently sitting in a booth waiting for my order. Around me was a wide assortment of posters of Duel monster cards and Duelists. I was currently looking at a picture of when Yugi Muto had dueled Seto Kaiba at Battle City, both players card on the field. Across the room was a 72" flat screen that was currently displaying a news show reporting the results of last nights Pro Duels.

The place definitely was interesting. It was a little surprising that someone would make a Duel Monster themed restaurant but who was I to complain. It just seemed like the game was taking over the world sometimes.

_Hell who knows. Maybe someday someone will open a school to teach people to duel. _I had to grin at the idea. Now that would have been a great school to go to.

Finally a waitress brought me my order and I began to chow down on my burger. While I was eating I heard the sound of the door opening behind me.

"-reat duel last night Daisuke." I heard a familiar female voice as three people passed my booth. It took me a moment but I quickly recognized them as the three duelists that had been hanging out in front of Daring Duelists two weeks ago.

"It was nothing. The guy should have stayed in the amateur leagues." Came the voice of the one known as Daisuke. He was still dressed in a hoody and I couldn't see his face at all. They sat a few booths away from mine with Daisuke's back to me. It seemed I was never gonna see this guys face.

"Don't be so tough on the guy. Ever since you entered the Pro League you've been destroying the competition. I doubt anyone who is in the lower ranks can stand up to you." Said the one I remembered as Jin. This was the first time I'd gotten a look at him since I was so focused on Daisuke the first time.

He looked to be about twenty and had short black hair that was spiked upwards. His face looked as if the guy had been in a couple fights because his forehead was covered in scars and his nose seemed to have been broken at one point in his life because it bent at a rather unnatural angle to give his nose an odd hook like quality. I couldn't see his eyes because he was currently wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. He was definitely the shortest of the three, but he was stout and looked like he could lift a truck on his own. He was wearing a pair of black running pants and a white sleeveless shirt.

"Yeah. You're rising in the ranks quickly." Said the female of the group. Juri I think her name was.

She was definitely about eighteen or nineteen. Her hair looked like it had been dyed that bright Maroon color cause I doubted that color was natural. It was currently pulled back in a pony tail with a green hat covering the top of her head. She had a pair of thin wired framed glasses that seemed to go perfect with her face. They definitely seemed to bring her green colored eyes into focus. Her outfit was comprised of a pair of overalls and a black t-shirt. She seemed to have the look of a tom-boy.

"I bet you'll be out of the Swing-Matches in a couple months." Jin said.

That explained why I had never seen the guy before. Swing-matches were matches that took place before the upper ranks dueled and were not guaranteed to be televised due to time constraints. And thanks to how long many upper rank matches took it was rare for a swing match to be shown.

"A couple months is too long. I joined the pros to go against the best, not unskilled duelist who think they're hot shit cause they have a deck of cards." Daisuke growled out as he slammed his fist against the table.

"Everybody starts at the bottom man." Jin tried to reason.

"Tell that to guys like Yugi Muto." My interest peaked at the mention of the King of Games. "He wasn't even in the leagues at all when he went up against Kaiba the first time. And because he won in that unofficial duel he was invited to Duelist Kingdom only to be proclaimed the King of Games and the best duelist in the world."

"But Yugi has proven time and time again that his rank is deserved." Juri nervously said.

"I could wipe the floor with him if given the chance, but unlike him I have to earn my way up the ladder! If I had one..." he trailed off his ranting as he seemed to turn towards the TV in the back.

I looked towards the TV myself and was surprised to see Seto Kaiba's face on it.

"Duelists of the world. In three months time Kaiba Corp will be hosting a tournament. But not just any tournament. This will be largest gathering of duelists from across the globe!" I could hear multiple people murmuring to themselves in the restaurant at this announcement.

Kaiba paused for a second most likely to let the news sink into the viewers, then began again. "The top sixty-four Duelists from the top sixty-four countries in the world are automatically invited to take part in this tournament."

"WHAT!" Daisuke screamed out in frustration and then stormed out of the restaurant (with no way for me to get a good look at his face). I could understand a bit what had him this upset. If he was still in the Swing-Matches he was definitely not that high of a rank. Of course he could have definitely handled it better.

"Aw man he was the one who was gonna pay for the meal." Jin said looking sad.

"Shut up and listen." Juri said and pointed to the TV. "He said automatically invited. That means there must be another way in."

"In addition sixty-four Satellite tournaments will be held at set locations in each of those countries, with the winners gaining entrance into the tournament."

Juri immediately began to pull on Jin from the booth. "Come on. We have to catch up and tell Daisuke about this." and with that both were out the door.

My attention turned back towards the TV. "Now a tournament of this size has never been attempted before because of the difficulties of bringing all the players together in one spot. However my company has gotten around this." Kaiba again paused for dramatic effect.

_Just get on with it! _I thought to myself.

"With that said I am proud to announce the release of the first ever virtual reality Dueling MMO. Using this new technology all participating duelists will be competing against each other in a new virtual world of my creation DUEL WORLD!"

This once again got everyone mumbling to themselves. This was big news. Rumors had it that Kaiba had been working on this game for years. According to inside sources the games development had been postponed multiple times due to interference and sabotage.

"To all duelists who already qualify I look forward to crushing you. And to all who will try for a spot in the tournament... Try and keep up." Kaiba then cut off the transmission, the last thing anyone seeing of him was his smirking face.

_Arrogant bastard._ I thought as I tightened my fists. _I bet Dominic already has heard abou- Oh shit the tournament!_

Looking at my watch I realized that if I wanted to make it I would have to leave now. Quickly paying for my meal I left in a hurry and began running down the street. Of course this probably wasn't a good idea cause I could feel my back protesting, but I didn't care.

I was halfway to the store when I heard someone screaming and immediately came to a halt. I was currently in one of the older neighborhoods, many of the houses it consisted of were abandoned.

_I'm gonna be late, but I can't ignore this. What if someone's hurt? _I then heard another scream. I quickly pinpointed the location of the scream and ran towards the backyard of one of the abandoned buildings. What I found horrified me.

There was a man about my age in a pair denim shorts and black t-shirt lying on the ground. His brown hair was matted with blood and his legs looked like they were broken. Next to him on the ground was a duel disk. I don't think I'd ever seen him before but something about him seemed to familiar to me.

Standing above him was a woman who had to be in her early thirties in a blood red business suit. Her brown hair was held back in a bun and she wore a pair of glasses with thick lenses that hid her eyes in the reflection they gave off. In her right hand was briefcase and her other hand was a cane that was covered in blood that she was currently pressing deeply into the open fracture on his leg.

The man was doing his best not to scream out again as he glared at the woman. This only seemed to amuse her. "This is what happens when you try to betray Omega." she said with no small amount of venom in her voice.

_Omega! As in Team Omega! _I was shocked to have once again come across a member of this team.

Before I could even think of a way to stop her she brutally jerked the cane tearing it out of his flesh which caused the man to once more scream.

"STOP IT!" I yelled as I ran to the woman. Before I could do anything I found myself face first in the dirt.

"What do we have here? Someone who can't keep there nose out of our business?" I heard the woman say from above me. "Did you think you could play the hero?" I then felt the cane she had slap against the back of my head. "I hate hero types."

"Kurokawa?" came the sound of a male voice from behind. It had to be the injured man but how did he know my name. I turned myself over and looked at him once again. His voice was familiar but I couldn't place it.

"Kurokawa? This is the guy you dueled two weeks ago then?" the woman said as she looked me over curiously. "Doesn't look like much to me."

_Two weeks ago? The only person I dueled at the time was... _I finally put it all together. "Jason!" I couldn't believe it was him. His hair and eyes were the wrong color and even his face seemed to have a different structure.

"Right in one go mate." Jason mumbled in a weak voice.

"What the hell happened?" I practically shouted out.

"That is Omega business Hero-boy." The woman said as she once again hit me with her cane, this time on the arm.

"Let him go!"

"And why should I? He is here to be punished and that's what I'm gonna do." She then got a thoughtful look on her face before grinning. "Unless of course you wish to take his place." She then opened her briefcase and brought out a duel disk and two odd looking machines. "I've been wanting to test this out for a while.

I couldn't help but groan. This looked like it was gonna be my duel against Jason all over again.

"Oh don't worry. There won't be any pain involved here." She said in a pseudo sweet voice. "However if you want to help him I wouldn't refuse." that sounded more like the woman from earlier.

"Fine. I accept your duel."

She then walked over to me and strapped one of the odd machines on the top of my head. She then picked up Jason's duel disk and placed a small USB device into the port on the disk.

"Here." She said as she handed me the disk. "You will duel using his disk." She then walked over to Jason and began to strap the other machine onto his head and placed another USB devise into her own duel disk. After wards she gagged Jason and not lightly either. It looked like the cloth was cutting into this skin.

"What is this about? Why place the devise on Jason's head if he isn't going to duel?"

"It's to make this fun." the Sadistic look on her face made Jason look tame in comparison. "You see those machines have exactly one bullet in them pointed directly at your head." My eyes grew wide at this. "And they are programmed to fire the bullet once the wireless device on the disks reads that there is 0 life points left.. You can guess what the machine will do next."

"Your even sicker then Jason!" I shouted.

"Maybe so, but at least I don't get off on the pain of others or myself. Now to explain the little twist to this duel Hero-boy. You see normally I'd place the machines so that way whoever lost would take the bullet. However for this little duel I switched the devices."

"You mean-"

"Yes! IF you win this duel the machine atop your head will kill you!" She looked positively insane at the moment. "And if you lose Jason is the one to die! And I promise that whoever is left standing when this duel is over will be free to leave. Of course you can always forfeit now and save yourself, but can you really leave someone to die like that Hero-boy!"

I knew I was trapped. I could never standby and let some one die even if doing so was at the cost of my own life? I'd have to duel her.

"You're on! I may not like this but I cannot just stand and allow another to die if I can help it!"

"That's what I thought Hero-boy!" she exclaimed as she activated her disk. "Now before I duel someone I introduce myself. You can call me Freya."

"Well then Freya you can call me Mikhail instead of Hero-boy."

"Nah I like Hero-boy. Or maybe even fool."

Freya: 8000

Mikhail: 8000

"I'll let you decide who goes first. Doesn't matter to me." Freya said as she drew her first five cards.

I also drew my cards and without looking at them began to speak. "I'll go first." I then drew my sixth card.

"Lets see whether you are truly willing to sacrifice yourself for someone who had caused you so much pain!"

"Will you shut up!" I yelled. I was already sweating like crazy at the insanity of this situation. "I set one card face down and set a monster in defense position." Both cards then appeared on the field in a flash of light. "I end my turn."

"Oh good my turn. I summon Maha Vailo (1550/1400) in attack position."

Maha Vailo was a female humanoid in blue robes. She had a pointed blue hat on her head that covered her blonde hair. From her back were to wing like protrusions that looked like they were used more for cutting then flying. Her robes were decorated with a bunch of red orbs, with a couple hanging from her hair.

"And I now equip my spellcaster with Sword of Deep-Seated raising its attack and defense by 500 points."

Maha Vailo now had a wicked looking purple blade in her hand that seemed to radiate darkness. Also one of the red orbs on her robe began to glow.

Maha Vailo: 2550/1900

I was confused at this. "I thought you said 500 points! How did it gain the extra 500?"

"That would be the effect of my Maha Vailo. My Monster's Attack points are increased by an additional 500 points for every equipment spell card equipped to it. Now that the explanation is out of the way I think I'll go on the offensive. Maha Vailo attack his monster!"

My monster was quickly obliterated by the monster. "You attacked my Timid Magician (0/1200). Whenever Timid Magician is targeted by my opponents monster in battle I can choose to either draw 1 card, or force you to draw 1 card. I choose to draw." I explained as I drew my new card.

"So you got another card. It won't change this duel. I end my turn."

My draw phase brought the number of cards in my hand to six. "I summon Blast Magician (1400/1700) to the field!"

My monster was another spellcaster. He on the other was wearing red and black robes that looked closer to armor than robes, with his face being mostly hidden by his high collar and his hat. In his left hand was what looked like double-bladed scythe./wiki/Equip_Cards/wiki/Equip

"And now I play the spell card Magical Prop - Returning Coin. This card lets me place 1 spell counter on any monster that can have spell counters on it. And guess what. My Blast Magician can."

Blast Magicain: 1400/1700/1 spell counter.

"And because I just activated a spell card my Blast Magician gains another spell counter.

Blast Magicain: 1400/1700/2 spell counters.

"And with that I end my turn."

"You fool you left your card open to attack." Freya said while drawing her new card.

"You might think so. However I activate the trap card Magical prop - Linked Rings." I then pressed a button on the disk and my card revealed itself. "This card places one ring counter on both of our monsters." Suddenly a long chain of interconnected rings connected my Blast Magician with her Maha Vailo.

"Now if any monster with a ring counter is destroyed instead it is removed from play and all monsters with ring counters are also removed. Go ahead and destroy my monster if you want to but you'll be ending your monster also."

I was feeling very smug about this move. However I did not expect to hear laughter from Freya. "You fool! You obviously have no idea how to properly play that card!"

"What!" This shocked me. What could I have possibly missed.

"I'll tell you exactly what Hero-Boy. If you had activated that card when I declared an attack instead I would be unable to stop the attack because there was no change in legal targets. That means my monster would be gone from the field also. Now instead I can just bide my time until I figure out how to destroy your trap." She then let out another insane laugh at my expense . "I set one card face-down and end my turn."

Drawing my card with out looking at it I also began to laugh. This of course seemed to unnerve her.

"What are you laughing at fool?"

"I'm laughing cause you think I would possibly make a mistake like that. While it's true that if I had activated the trap when you tried to attack my Blast Magician Maha Vailo would be removed from play but that would still cost me life points."

"Then you're an even greater moron then I thought."

"That might be so but we'll just wait and see. Now since I'm in my standby phase the effect of my Returning Coin activates. It now comes back to my hand from the graveyard." The disk eject the card and I placed it back in my hand. "And now I activate the spell card Gryphon's Feather Duster."

_This card is one of the few cards from my old deck that I placed in my new deck and believe me I am glad I did._

Freya: 8000

Mikhail: 8500

Blast Magician: 1400/1700/ 3 spell counters

"And now because my Magical Prop - Linked Rings was destroyed all ring counters are removed from the field without affecting our monsters." The chain of rings between our monsters then disintegrated into dust.

"Then your monster will not have any defense against my Maha Vailo." Freya said desperate to find some way to criticize my move.

"There won't be any need for a defense against a monster that's gone. I activate Magical Prop - Returning Coin once again to bring the total counters on my Blast Magician up to five."

Blast Magician: 1400/1700/5 spell counters

"And now I activate his ability. By removing spell counters on my Blast Magician he can destroy a monster with attack points equal to or lower than the number of counters x 700. I think I'm gonna remove four."

Blast Magician 1400/1700/1 spell counter

"That's enough to destroy my Maha Vailo!"

"Right in one go Mate!" I yelled out imitating Jason. My Blast Magician then pointed at the monster on my opponents side of the field. For a second it seemed like nothing was happening but then Maha Vailo was destroyed in large explosion of fire.

"My Maha Vailo!" She screamed out. If I didn't know any better it almost looked like she was crying at the loss of her monster.

"And since you have no monsters on your side of the field I'll have my Blast Magician attack you directly!"

"I activate Negate Attack. This card stops your monsters attack and ends your battle phase. You won't be getting at my life points this turn." she said while glaring at me. "You're lucky my target is Jason other wise I'd be glad to lose this duel."

_Damn it. I thought that was gonna work for sure. Of course if her life points reach 0 my life is over. I really am in a lose/lose situation._

"Since any hope of attack is gone I end my turn."

"My turn then" She drew her card. "By the way your not the only one with a returning card. Whenever Sword of Deep-Seated is sent to the graveyard from the field it is placed on top of my deck. This of course means that the card I drew was my equipment spell card."

"That may be the case buy you still need a monster to place it on."

"Which is why I play the spell card Premature Burial. By paying 800 of my life points I can special summon my Maha Vailo back to the field."

Freya: 7200

Mikhail 8500

"And since Premature Burial is treated as an equipment card he gains another 500 attack points. Of course I play my Sword of Deep-Seated once again on my monster."

Two red orbs were now lit up on the spellcasters robes.

Maha Vailo: 3050/1900

"I'm gonna make you wish you had my Maha Vailo removed from play. Maha Vailo attack his Blast Magician."

Maha Vailo jumped towards my magician and sliced him in half with her Sword of Deep-Seated.

Freya: 7200

Mikhail: 6850

"And finally I set one card face down and end my turn."

I could feel my sweat pouring off of me as I drew my card.

_Hmmm. This definitely gives me an Idea but it's gonna take a lot to pull._

"Since its my standby phase I bring back returning coin to my hand. NowI set one monster face-down in defense position and set two more cards and end my turn."

"On the defensive now. That's good. You'll soon know nothing but darkness hero-boy." She then drew her card. "I now play the spell card Fusion Study. By skipping my next two draw phases I can fusion summon a fusion monster using only one of the required material monsters. I fusion summon using Maha Vailo to summon Vailo - Mistress of Arms(1550/1400/)."

This card look very similar to Maha Vailo except this one had four weapons floating around it; A mace, a sword, a staff, and an axe.

"Another Maha Vailo? Don't you have any other kinda monster in your deck?" I asked.. _In fact she hasn't played any other monster at all. Why is that?_

"The answer is simple. I don't need any other monster. In fact I don't have any other monsters in my deck. My deck is focused on searching for, summoning, supporting, reviving, and even bringing back from out of play my Maha Vailo."

"That's crazy! How can such a deck possibly work!" I screamed out.

"You'll see. This deck may have it's flaws but believe me it can crush any duelist." Shed said with a sneer on her face.

"Well your doing a horrible job so far. You would have been better off with the original. It's attack is way weaker and you have to wait until two turns pass to get your Sword of Deep-Seated back."

"Don't insult my card. Vailo is everything I need. Take a good long look at my card.

Vailo - Mistress of Arms 3550/3400

"What the hell?"

"You see. My card has many abilities that make it the perfect card. You see this fusion may look my like my Maha Vailo but its quite different. Not only is it now a Warrior type monster, but each one of those weapons floating around my monster represent a Weapon counter and each one of those gives my Vailo an extra 500 attack and defense." The grin on her face just seemed to get more manic each second. "Now my Vailo show Hero-boy why you're the perfect monster. Attack his face down monster."

"I don't think so. I activate Illusion Practice Accident. This card will negate your attack and end the battle phase. However it also has the fortunate side-effect of removing your Vailo from play." I said as I pressed the button for my trap card.

Vailo was about to attack my face-down card but was stopped when she was surrounded by a Magicians stage box. The door to the box closed and then began to spin around to show both players there was no exits to it. It then faced me and began to open.

I was stunned to find that Vailo stepped out of the box completely unharmed with the exception that the floating sword was gone.

"But how?"

"One of my Vailo's special abilities. You see whenever my Vailo would be removed from the field for any reason I can remove 1 weapon counter from it instead."

Vailo - Mistress of Arms 3050/2900/ 3 weapon counters

"You should feel lucky that it only negates my cards destruction. That means my attack is still negated. I end my turn."

Of course I didn't feel lucky. This card definitely was gonna be tough to beat. I drew my card for this turn and went into action "I set one more card on the field and then I discard my monster Master Magician - Lurton from my hand to activate his effect. I now get to draw from my deck until I have 6 cards in my hand."

"Go ahead. Nothing you can do can possibly stop my monster."

"That may be true for now, but believe me I will stop it soon. I summon my Master Magician - Quill (1600/300). I then flip summon my face-down monster Master Magician - Speaker (1200/600)."

Quill and Speaker both appeared at the same onto the field. Quill was a rather heavy set man in a disheveled brown suit. His hair was pulled back in a messy pony-tail and he had a pair of glasses perched on the tip of his nose. Speaker on the other hand seemed to be the opposite. He was skinny and short with a neat suit on. His hair was short and somewhat curly.

"I then equip Speaker with my spell card Magical Prop - Magic Wand."

Master Magician - Speaker (1200/600)

"What good was the equipment card? It did nothing to your monster."

You'll find out. For now I'll show off what my Master Magician - Quill can do. You see whenever he is on the field with his partner he may attack your life points directly. Quill attack her now!"

Freya: 5600

Mikhail: 6850

"And now to show you the effect of the Magic Wand. Once per turn I can activate it's effect. At cost of being unable to attack with the monster it's equipped to I can remove from play one of your monsters on the field." As I said the Speaker pointed the little black and white wand at Vailo in what he thought was a threatening manner, but seemed more comical then anything. "Speaker. Remove that monster from existence."

Speaker began to twirl the wand above his head and then waved it in the direction of the Mistress of Arms. A puff of smoke and confetti then surrounded Vailo. When the smoke finally cleared I was not surprised to see it still on the field with the staff gone

Vailo - Mistress of Arms: 2550/2400/ weapon counters 2

"Did you forget my Vailo's effect so quickly? You can't destroy my monster."

"I knew it wasn't possible to destroy it just yet, but you only have two counters left. Once I remove them your card will once again be vulnerable." I said with a satisfied grin on my face.

"You may think that is possible but I have no intentions of letting you get that far.!" She began to screech.

_Man this woman is crazy. She switches moods faster then you can blink and is psychotic to boot._

"I don't think you'll have any choice in the matter. I set one more card face-down and end my turn."

"Since I still can't draw any cards I'll just go on the offensive. Vailo attack his pesky little Speaker."

Vailo grabbed the mace floating around her and charged towards Speaker. With a swift blow to the head that let out a sickening crunch Speaker was gone.

Freya: 5600

Mikhail: 5500

"And now you get to witness another of my monsters glorious abilities. While Vailo has a weapon counter on her, she can declare an attack as long as there is a monster on your side of the field."

"No!"

"Yes! Vailo attack his Master Magician - Quill!"

Once again Vailo - Mistress of arms grabbed one of her weapons, the axe this time, and charged my Magician. Before I could blink Quill was destroyed.

Freya: 5600

Mikhail: 4550

"It's rather sad really. You could summon a thousand monsters, but my monster would then be able to attack a thousand times. Now you must realize that my monster truly is perfect."

_I wasn't expecting an ability like this. There has to be a way to stop this monster. Wait... I think I know just how to win. Not only that but I might be able to get both Jason and I out of this mess alive. It's a gamble but I'm willing to risk it._

"Your card is no way perfect. In fact before this is done and over with that card will be your doom." I exclaimed with a look of determination on my face.

"Never! My Vailo would never destroy me!" I didn't know it was possible but she looked even more deranged at the mere thought of her card turning on her. "I end my turn Hero-boy."

As I drew my card I looked her in the eyes. "Then I'll just have to prove it to you. I activate my trap card Magical Prop - Curtain of Illusion.

A giant silk curtain then began to cover my side of the field, concealing from view.

"By removing from play one, two, or even three spellcasters from my graveyard I can special summon a monster from my deck to the field. I remove my Blast Magician, Master Magician - Quill, and Master Magician - Speaker from play."

All three of the card ejected from my graveyard and I placed them into my pocket.

"And since I removed three monsters from play I can summon a level 7-8 monster. So say hello to the rare card designed by Pegasus himself on the Pact With Wizards booster series. A card on par with the Dark Magician, THE WHITE MAGICIAN! (2100/2500)"

The silk curtain then pulled back to reveal my monster. There stood a tall Humanoid dressed in a white tuxedo and white top hat. In his hands was a gold scepter with a diamond for adorning the tip. The top of his face was covered with a white mask that hid his eyes from view. Unlike his Dark counterpart this Magician looked to be ready for the stage then the arcane.

"That's the card Pegasus designed? Looks like a water downed version of the Dark Magician to me." She then let out a sigh. "I'm so disappointed. Here I was beginning to gain a little respect for you, but now I find you're nothing more than a Yugi Muto wannabe."

"My card may have it's similarities to Yugi's card but let me tell you this card has powers all its own."

"Then you'll just have to show me them." She said, gaining a creepy smile.

"A good magician never performs a trick to early. He must wait until the perfect timing. With that said I end my turn."

"After all that showmanship all you can do is end your turn. You really are a let-down. This is the last turn that I can't draw. I hope you have something big planned cause after this turn you will have no chance at all."

"Believe me the grand finale will make your head spin."

"And if it works your head will become nothing more than a stain on the ground. You still sure you want to keep going." she said trying to get into my head.

"I have never been more sure of anything."

"Fine then I'll just have to make you pay for this. Vailo - Mistress of Arms. Destroy his White Magician."

Vailo once again grabbed the axe and charged at my monster. However before it could reach it my monster was surrounded by smoke, only to be replaced by a life-size doll that bore a strong resemblance to my Magician. Vailo tore through the doll like it was nothing.

"What just happened?" Freya asked confusion evident on her face.

"I activated my Trick of the Escape Artist trap card. When you declare an attack on one of my spellcasters I remove it from play and place one Decoy Token (0/0) in its place in defense position. Your monster is then forced to attack the token."

"But now the monster you were so proud of is gone."

"Oh don't worry. He'll return once you end your turn. For now he is merely waiting."

"Fine. Enjoy your free turn. Once my next turn comes I'll be able to build my Vailo's power and nothing will stop me. End turn."

The White Magician reappeared in a flash of light on my side of the field.

I drew my card but didn't even look at it. I wasn't gonna need it. "Now during my standby phase one of my White Magician's special abilities activates. I may now choose one spellcaster from my graveyard and place it into my deck and shuffle it. I choose my Timid Magician."

"What a useless card to bring back."

"You may think so but it will be the key to my victory. I now activate the second ability of my White Magician. Once per duel I can place my White Magician back into my deck and special summon any monster with 2000 or less attack points from my deck in attack position. I choose my Timid Magician (0/1200)"

A small child in a magicians outfit was now on my field. He looked like he was terrified to be out in the open.

Freya let out small chuckle which soon became shrill laughter. "You plan to stop my Vailo with that little wimp? I've never heard anything more funnier in my life."

"I have no intention of stopping your monster. In fact I'm counting on its ability to be unstoppable."

This caused her eyebrows to raise in confusion. "Okay..." She obviously had no idea what I meant.

"Since my Timid Magician was summoned in attack position it's special ability is activated. You see the little guy has a case of stage fright and immediately switches to defense mode. I now equip him with the spell card Heart of Clear Water."

Timid Magician: 0/1200

"Another equipment spell that doesn't increase attack points?"

"Oh yes. You see Heart of Clear water can only be equipped to a monster with less than 1300 attack points or else it is destroyed. However my magician has absolutely no attack points whatsoever."

"But why would you use such a useless card?"

"Let me finish. You see any monster that Heart of Clear Water is equipped to cannot be destroyed by a result of battle or by the effect of a card that targets the monster."

"So you gain an interesting defense. I'll figure out a way around it." She sneered at me.

"Maybe in a couple turns, but tell me. Do you have a way to do so in your hand right now?"

"So what if I don't. It's not like it matters. Next turn I can starting drawing cards once again and I'll begin the onslaught all over again.."

"But that's the thing. We both know that your next card is Sword of Deep-Seated and that isn't going to get you past my defense."

"AGHH! Quit being so damn cryptic! Either show me what you got planned or shut-up!" Freya said while pulling at her hair.

"Gladly. I set one more card face-down and end my turn. Lets see what you got."

"Finally. I draw my Sword again. Now you shall see my power once again, I equip Sword of Deep-Seated to my Vailo - Mistress of Arms. This also activated my monsters special effect. You see whenever my Vailo has a card equipped onto her she gains another Weapon Counter" Now once again Vailo had a staff floating around her.

Vailo - Mistress of Arms: 3550/3400/Weapon counters 3

I then began to slowly clap my hands.

"Why are you clapping!"

"I'm impressed by the sheer destructive power of your card. In fact I'm so impressed I think I'll add a little onto its strength. I activate my trap card Arcane Berserking. You see this card is equipped onto a monster of my choice and gives that monster 400 attack points. I think I'll choose your Vailo - Mistess of Arms. And since she has another card equipped onto her I do believe she gains another Weapon counter"

Vailo - Mistress of Arms: 4450/3900/Weapon counters 4

"Why would you want to make my monster stronger?" Before I could answer the question her Vailo suddenly began to turn red and her eyes became nothing more than the color white. "What's happening!"

"Oops. I guess I forgot Arcane Berserking's little side effect. You see when this card is equipped to any monster other than a spellcaster the arcane energies flowing through its body causes it to berserk. And since you mentioned that this monster was a warrior instead of a spellcaster like the original I guess that is what's happening now."

"What does that mean!"

"Oh it just means that as long as it is capable of making an attack it MUST attack."

Without any prompting from Freya Vailo began charging towards my Timid Magician. Only instead of destroying the small magician its attack bounced off harmlessly.

"Well since your monster targeted my Timid Magician it's special ability activates. Do you remember what that was?" I said feeling incredibly confident now.

"Er..."

"Ohh I'll have to take that as a no. Well it's simple. Whenever it is targeted in battle I can either draw one card or force you to draw a card. Unlike the first time I used its effect at the beginning of the duel I think I'll make you draw a card."

Freya's eyes widened in horror as what was going on dawned on her. "And my Vailo always can attack as long as there is a monster on your side of the field."

"Exactly. So your monster will continue to attack my Magician uncontrollably endlessly activating its ability. And every time it does I'm gonna choose for you to draw from your deck."

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_Freya's Point of View_

_ I'm trapped. I have no way of stopping this. And the worst part is my devices are programmed to go off when one of our life points reach 0. I never thought this would happen._

I helplessly watched my Vailo attack his magician over and over again. My favorite monster was destroying me. I had long since stopped drawing the cards and the disk was automatically ejecting the cards now from my deck.

"PLEASE STOP!" I screamed as I felt tears coming to my eyes. I depended on that card so much. Too think that it was the one to bring my end was unbearable. "PLEASE VAILO! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!" but she continued on with her assault despite my pleas. Finally the last card was ejected and the duel disk was deactivated.

_But why do I keep seeing her attacking? Why can't I get the image of her leading to my defeat out of my head!_ At the very moment I could feel my already fragile psyche begin to break. The last thing I remember was the sight of my monster attacking.

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Author's Note: I'm thinking about putting all my Original cards in my profile so people can take a look at the exact effects of them. Until I can bring myself to do this I'll list at least one card I'm sure you all wanna know about from this chapter.

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White Magician  
Effect Monster  
Light/Spellcaster  
Level 7  
2100/2500  
Effect: This cards name is always treated as "Dark Magician". If your opponent controls a "Dark Magician" increase this cards ATK by 400. While this card is on the field, during your standby phase move one spellcaster type monster from your graveyard to your deck and then shuffle your deck. Once per duel you may place this card back into your deck and special summon 1 spellcaster type monster with an ATK of 2000 or lower from your deck in Face-up Attack Position, then shuffle your deck.

I would also like to let it be known that I'm looking for a beta reader, so if anyone is interested please send me a message to my profile on FFnet.


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